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Sony's Vaio Duo 11 blends tablet with laptop to create a 'tabtop'

You're looking at the start of a curious new trend: tablets that want to be ultrabooks.

This is the Sony Duo 11, one of the first Windows 8 tablet-cum-laptops, a "tabtop", if you will. This 11-inch hybrid is a touchscreen slate that slides up to reveal a small keyboard, becoming an ultrabook in the process.

Sony announced this chimera at its IFA keynote this week and it riffs on Windows 8's use of two desktop interfaces -- one for tablets, one for desktops -- by literally changing form factor.

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Need a tablet? Use it as such. Need a keyboard? Behold! One's hiding under the screen. As if that wasn't enough, it comes with a stylus for handwriting and it can detect when your palms are resting on it to write (as opposed to your fingers selecting something on the screen).

"What are you?"

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It's a weird machine. I stood and stared at it for a good two or three minutes, asking, "What are you?" I must have said it loud enough because a Sony rep slithered over to explain that it's aimed at "productivity people" -- users who need a tablet for the train, a stylus for taking notes in meetings, a desktop for writing up reports.

I probed the specs while pondering such a thrilling-sounding individual, and there's some good power on the inside here. Behind the 11.6-inch 1,920x1,080 HD screen is an Intel Core i3 or Core i5 processor, up to 8GB of very fast RAM, up to 256GB of solid state storage, Intel HD 4000 graphics, HDMI out, two cameras, a bunch of USB ports and the usual roster of tablet-friendly sensors: GPS, accelerometers, NFC, gyroscope, digital compass. In short, it's a tricked-out bit of kit.

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I started to think that it would've been the perfect companion for me, reporting from a tradeshow like IFA. Juggling a MacBook Pro for conferences and story-writing half the day and an iPad for taking notes the other half is not actually that efficient. One small device that worked for both needs began to look attractive.

Hands-on

It was a nice device to use as well. The touchscreen was vibrant and crisp as well as responsive to my touches, and although the sliding mechanism felt a bit clunky to my hand, once it was in ultrabook form it was solid. There's no trackpad though, and that may be a deal-breaker for some people. It's also quite thick and beastly as a tablet, measuring 18mm and weighing 1.3kg (roughly twice that of the iPad on both counts, for reference).

But there is a bundled stylus and it's more like the kind shipped with artists' drawing tablets, in that it's pressure sensitive and will draw thicker lines if you press on it harder.

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Windows 8's handwriting recognition worked a treat as well, at least in my demo, having no trouble taking handwritten scrawl and turning it into regular text.

I haven't quite concluded whether I like the form factor, but there was something in Sony's execution of it that made me actually think I could use a device like this. It won't be a mainstream design by any means, but it's not the first I've seen. It's a trend I think we'll see a lot more of over the next few years, aimed at the same people pre-iPad tablets were aimed at: businesspeople, perhaps students, and in this generation maybe artists and creatives eventually.

The Vaio Duo 11 will be on sale in October but no price has been detailed. Do you think you'd use a device like this? Let me know in the comments, and take a look at some of my hands-on photos in the gallery.